Improvement in steam-engines



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NTTED STATES PATENT Finca.

VILLIAM lRIGHT, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN- STEAM-ENGINES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 43,362, dated June 28, 1864.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM WRIGHT, of New York, in the county and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Steam-Engines; and l hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figures l and 2 are respectively a side and end elevation, and Figs. 3, 4, and 5 constructive details ofthe same.

This invention relates to certain peculiar construction and arrangement of steam-engines, applicable to stationary or marine engines, whereby greater ett'ect is obtained with agiven amount of steam, while compaetness, solidity, and particularly fewness and simplicity of parts are obtained with good balance and well-directed action.

The distinguishing feature of the steamengine subject of this patent consists in the peculiar disposition of the steam cylinder or chamber, whereby the piston is caused to travel concentrically with the center of me tion of an engine whose general character is that of an oscillatingbeam engine--that is, an engine the movementof whose piston is transmitted to a beam oscillating `upon its point of suspension.

Other improvements and features of novelty are involved in and subordinate to the gen'- eral distinguishing characteristic before reierrcd to, as will he more i'ully set forth in the following description.

rl`he engine represented in the accompany ing drawings embodies the principle of my invention, and may be considered the type engine, having the characteristic before set forth, and which I denominate the seg mental engine.77 The steam-chamber, or, asit may be called by the conventional term, steanrcylinder A is stationary and curved, its axis forming a segment ot' a circle whose center isthe center of motion of the parts of the engine which transmit their movements to the machinery to he driven. The segmental cylinder is supported on a solid sole-plate, B, to which are cast or bolted, or otherwise secured, trianglar side standards, G, between which is incased the steam-cylinder with the convex side upon or toward the sole-plate. The side standards maybe cast -is the point of suspension.

in one piece with the said cylinder, and thus constitute two plane-surfaced exterior sides of the cylinder. One or both side plates may also be iitted with openings for the admission to and expulsion from the cylinder of steam, and may thus serve the purpose of a4 steamchest. The apex of each triangular side standard is crowned with a central pedestal bearin g, D, which, carrying a walkingbeam or rocker, E, transmitting the main reciprocating movement ot the piston of the engine to a main shaft to be driven, constitutes thc center ot' motion. It is with this center of motion that the steam cylinder is concentric in all its parts, so that the course of travel of the piston it incloses will necessarily Abe like that of a pendulum of which the said center Longitudinally through the cylinder along its axis passes the piston-rod F, curved in conformity with the shape ot" the cylinder, traversing it at both ends. rI he piston-rod is formed into an open ring, the opening being at a point diametrically opposite to the piston, so that both the piston and the pistonrod may be removed from the cylinder b v shifting the rod until its opening comes withinthe cylinder, when it may be lifted up and out of the cylinder. The piston-rod I prefer to make of a sectional area (shown in Figs. 4 and 5) that is tiat, presenting the greatest width or depth in the direction of the radii, and terminating on the interior and exterior circumference in an Ogeeshaped angle.

'lo connect the piston G with the rod, 1 form the piston-mold around the piston-rod, and cast the body ot' the piston upon it' as a core. ln this way a very secure attachment is effected, and the ditculty and trouble attending the boring of a longitudinally'curved hole to lit the piston-rod is obviated. rlhe piston may be fitted with metallic or other suitable packing. The steam-cylinder is pro; vided with two head-plates, H, with which are cast or connected stuffing-boxes in which the packing is adjusted by means of side compressing-plates, l, and screw-bolts J. Opposite the angles of the piston-rod I provide the stuffing-box with screws K, which actuate blocks or wedges to securely pack the ioint between the side packing-plates, I. The walking-.beam is composed of one or two diskplates, which7 conforming along its outer circumfcrence with the annular piston-rod, constitute segments of circular disks whose bordering radii form an angle of one hundred anl twenty-five degrees, more or less, according to the length of stroke. These plates are united together with the piston-rod by means o" bolts L, passing through both the plates and the rod.. It' the walking-beam bc composel of a single plate, then it is double y anged along the circumference, and the two ends of the piston-rod are incased between the two lian ges and secured together by means ofbolts,as described. The beam is supported in its bearings by means of an axle or pin run through a hub or flange for that purpose made in the beam. ,To the beam isjointed the one end of the connecting-rod M, forked to eznbrace the ybeam at the point of attachment. The head of the connecting-rod is keyed by means ofstraps, braces, and wedgepieces to a pin passing through both the beam and the rod, in lieu of one of the bolts. The other end of the connecting-rod is by similar means connected with the crank N ofthe main driving-shaft.

For double-screw propulsion-i. e.,when two s rews are used-a second connecting-rod is a' ranged symmetrically with the one last desrribed, jointed at U and connected with a crank-shaft located on the other side of the cylinder in the same relation to the cylinder as the shaft T bears to it on the opposite side.

The steam-chest, as before stated, is located at the side of the steam-cylinder and contains the steam-admission valve, which `is operated from without by means of an eccentric on the main shaft, or by some other moving part of the engine. The steam-exhaust rvalve is in this instance operated independently of the other valves by means of the rod P, guided in a stuffing-box, Q, and collar cast to a bracket, R. The exhaustvalve rod is combined with an eccentric, S, on the shaft 'Il through the intermediary of a key or other adjustable contrivance whereby it i may be set to suit the work to be performed.

rIhe adaptation of an exhaust-valve adjustable at the Will of the attendant without necessarily involving a corresponding adjustment of the steam admission and cut-ofi' arrangement enables the engine to be worked with great economy, inasmuch as the discharge of steam may be regulated to prevent concussion and to insure equable movement of the parts.

The operation of an engine constructed according to my invention will be readily understood from the foregoing description. Steam being admitted into the cylinder, the piston, together with its rod and walking-beam, will be moved to and fro in arcs of a circle of which D is the center. rlhis oscillating motion is directly transmitted by means of the connecting-rod to the crank-shaft, to which a rotary motion is imparted. rIhe great simplicity of this arrangement of engines, combined with direct connection of the main working parts, all having one and the same center of motion, dispenses with sliding blocks, ways, and other undue friction, and admits of their being run at a great velocity without injurious vibration or liability to derangement.

- ing both ends of the said cylinder or chamber and forming an open ring, the center of which is the center of motion, substantially as set forth.

3. The combination, with a stationary segmental steam-cylinder, piston, and annular piston-rod, of a walking-beam hung and oscillating in bearings at the center common to the vcylinder and piston-rod, substantially as set forth.

4. In combination with a stationary segmental steam cylinder and piston and annular piston rod, anv oscillating walking-beam rigidly connected and moving in unison with the piston-rod, substantially as set forth.

5. The combination of an annular pistonrod extending through both ends of a segmental steam-cylinder with a walking-beam rigidly connected at both of its ends with the piston-rod, substantially as set forth.

6. The attachment of a connecting-rod to both the beam and piston rod,when the movement of the latter is thus transmitted directly to a revolving shaft,substantially as set forth.

7. rllhe arrangement of a segmental engine, substantially as described, whereby two connecting-rods may be used, operating two independent shafts on either side thereof, for the perfect balancing of and for obtaining the greatest useful effect from the engine, substantially as set forth.

8. In combination with a piston rod whose transverse section is more 01 less oval or elongated, the method herein described of packing the same by the employment, in connection with a suitable stuffing material, of side compression-plates, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification before two subsc ribing witnesses.

IVM. VVRIGHI.

Witnesses:

H. MERRIAM, lt. E. STILWELL. 

